The same state leaders who banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — without exceptions for rape and incest — and barely waited a year to pass a six-week ban, are now calling a ballot referendum to restore reproductive rights “extreme.”

That makes no sense. Constitutional Amendment 4, on the ballot in the November elections, would mostly return abortion rights to what they were for decades in Florida, before the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022 and the Florida Legislature passed one of the strictest laws in the nation.

And yet, as the Herald reported Tuesday, this is how House Speaker Paul Renner, who ushered in the passage of the six-week ban, characterized the ballot item: “This amendment goes far far beyond where most Floridians would land on the issue and is extreme in its scope”

The standard for nearly 50 years — which is popular with Floridians, according to polls — is not extreme. Banning abortions before most women even know they are pregnant is. Even Donald Trump called the six-week ban a “terrible mistake” last year.

The Florida Supreme Court approved the language of Amendment 4 on Monday. On the same day, it ruled in favor of Florida’s 15-week ban, which will trigger the six-week ban starting May 1.

The amendment will reverse the ban if it’s approved by at least 60% of voters. The measure states: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay or restrict abortion before viability,” which is a fetus’ ability to survive outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks of gestation.